Bus drivers: Fire safety level at Kamppi bus station is inadequate

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The fire safety level in the Kamppi bus terminal is not adequate, criticises industrial safety delegate Matti Ahonen, who works for Veolia Transport, a company operating public transportation services on a contractual basis in several countries.
     
Ahonen became conscious of the problems in November, when a bus fire in the Kamppi terminal revealed serious fire safety defects.
      ”It was a total mess. Buses were driving into the terminal, even though there was a fire in there building up a lot of smoke”, Ahonen recalls.
      ”All vehicles should have been driven out of the terminal”, he adds.
      Instead, they kept driving in and leaving passengers at platforms.
     
Driving into the terminal was possible as the barrier that was supposed to close the ingoing lane came down too late.
      Ahonen argues the barrier is in the wrong place in any case, and should be moved further away so that arriving buses would have an opportunity to remain on the main road, rather than blocking up the ramp as they did. When the barrier finally did come down, a queue of buses hampered access for arriving fire-trucks.
      The buses were also disturbing the firefighting activities when they drove over the hose of the fire hydrant.
      Ahonen notes further that given the prevailing competition the bus companies are put in such a difficult situation that they sacrifice the quality of bus drivers’ training.
      ”When the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV) arranges bidding contests for bus lines, one condition should be that the bus companies arrange their drivers adequate safety and first aid training as well as language instruction”, Ahonen argues.
     
According to the information gathered by Matti Ahonen, a large number of deficiencies were found during the fire in November. For example, the door to the terminal came down on one of the buses, he says.
      ”The bus drivers who were trying to find their way out were stumbling about in the smoke injuring themselves. The lights of emergency exits could not be seen because of the thick smoke. The emergency exits should always be marked on the ground”, Ahonen continues.
      ”The elimination of smoke was really clumsy”, he adds.
      ”The drivers who were in the terminal were not given any instructions. Our own duty officer called the control room in order to get some guidance, but they hung up on him, saying that they were busy”, Ahonen complains.
     
Even the head of the public transport services unit at YTV Reijo Mäkinen reports on a number of faults.
      YTV was not informed of the fire until half an hour after it had started, even though the council should have reported on the situation to bus companies and passengers.
      Managing Director Lasse Vikholm of Helsingin Kamppi Center Oy, which accommodates the central bus terminal, says that the buses left passengers at platforms even though they should have driven straight out because of the fire.
      However, Vikholm points out that ”basically everything worked as it should. The current safety level does not present any danger”.
      Vikholm notes futher that attempts are made to improve safety, while various alternatives to that effect are being discussed.
      The official investigation into the fire has not been completed yet.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Bus fire causes evacuation at Kamppi terminals on Monday night (17.11.2009)

Links:
  Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council

Helsingin Sanomat